NYC flight tickets may rise

COX NEWS SERVICE

Saturday

Oct 27, 2007 at 2:00 AM

WASHINGTON — Ticket prices to and from New York's John F Kennedy International Airport "most likely" will have to rise during peak travel hours next summer to help relieve flight traffic jams there, a U.S. Department of Transportation official said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Ticket prices to and from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport "most likely" will have to rise during peak travel hours next summer to help relieve flight traffic jams there, a U.S. Department of Transportation official said yesterday.

And assuming "congestion pricing" does help at JFK, other crowded airports could see similar fare hikes during rush hours in coming years, said DOT's Assistant Secretary for Policy Tyler Duvall.

The government needs "a strategy for hot spots" to reduce traffic jams as they develop in the future, he said. "We want a model built in."

DOT policy makers held a series of meetings this week with aviation officials to consider ways to relieve New York congestion. Last summer, more than a third of all takeoffs and landings at JFK were late, causing flight delays to ripple out across the country.

To avoid a rerun in the summer of 2008, the DOT established a committee to offer suggestions for reducing delays. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will deliver her conclusions to the White House by year's end.

Long-term solutions to flight delays involve improvements in air-traffic control systems and airport expansions. Quick fixes for next summer could include:

Operational improvements. For example, airport officials may be able to reduce some delays by changing takeoff procedures. Flight schedule reductions. Currently, more than 100 flights are scheduled for peak hours at JFK, a level that DOT has proposed cutting to just 80. Congestion pricing. Airlines planned as many as 110 flights between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. this past August at JFK, but only about 50 flights between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. DOT could impose higher fees at peak travel times to encourage airlines to spread out their operations.

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